To Feel Your Lips
by Railynn
Summary: Serena literally sweeps Darien off his feet when first they meet, now he has difficulty banishing her from his dreams. What's a poor man to do? COMPLETE
1. Chapter One

**To Feel Your Lips...**

**Chapter One:**

He ran his fingers through her silky locks before pulling her to him and crushing his mouth on hers, thrusting his tongue between lips that had parted in surprise. She was timid at first, inexperienced as she was, but she learned quickly and soon their tongues were mating ardently as their bodies pressed close together. He pulled her back and they fell onto the couch, their lips parting for a moment in the shock. She looked down at him, her hair forming a curtain around them, her sapphire eyes dark with newly found desire, lips bruised from the force of their kiss.

He couldn't believe she was here with him, but he wasn't going to take the time to think about it. He pulled her face down to his and kissed her again, though not so forcefully as the first time. This time he went slower, teasing her, his hands playing around her waist just under her shirt, tickling the sensitive skin. She twitched involuntarily, pressing herself into him in the most delicious way, making him gasp at the sensation running through his body.

Then his ears began to buzz...

-

_No no no!_ He screamed to himself as his alarm buzzed obnoxiously. Frustrated, he ripped the alarm clock off of the nightstand by his bed and threw it at the wall. Laying back with his hand on his forehead, he cursed at the now quiet–and smashed–alarm clock. He really had to do something about these dreams. It didn't seem to matter _what _he did–or who, for that matter–_she _kept haunting his dreams and making him wake in a rather...uncomfortable...state of body.

_Looks like another cold shower for me, _he thought ruefully as he finally rolled out of bed, somewhat ashamed of the blatantly obvious aroused state he was in. Just as well he lived alone.

As he got ready for his day, he regretted breaking his clock. He'd have to get a new one now, not to mention clean up the mess of sharp bits and pieces on his floor. After he'd sat down to drink his morning cup of coffee, he caught a glimpse of his watch and jumped out of the chair. "Damn it!" he exclaimed aloud, "I'm going to be late!" Grabbing his jacket and keys, he left the small apartment, mug of coffee in hand as he hurried down the stairs, too impatient to wait on the elevator.

_Damn Serena, anyway, _he thought to himself, not even realizing that his books were still on the kitchen table.

* * *

The object of Darien Shields' cursing steadfastly refused to wake up, even though her alarm was insistently batting her head and yowling. Wait, batting her head? Yowling? Confused, she raised her head and blinked blearily at the black cat sitting next to her. Ah, Luna, then. Confusion erased, her head dropped back to the pillow, eyes closed once more. The cat laid her ears back in annoyance. She had hoped that she wouldn't have to resort to this... 

"YOW!" Serena shouted, scooting away from the claws digging into her back, falling off the narrow bed in the process. "Luna!" she exclaimed indignantly, rubbing the sore spot.

Luna just stared mildly at the now fully awake blonde, blinking her large eyes once.

Grumbling, Serena stood up and went into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.

Later, as she rummaged around in the cupboards for something to eat, she realized that she was, as usual, running late. Cursing, she grabbed a pack of pop tarts and picked her bag up before sweeping out the door. Unfortunately–though not at all unusual–she locked her keys in the apartment.

* * *

She slipped into her math class about fifteen minutes late, but the door was thankfully in the back of the huge lecture hall, so she went mostly unnoticed. Setting her bag down by an empty desk and sitting down, she pulled out the math book and opened it to a random page, then pulled out her notebook. She hardly heard the professor rambling on about logarithms when she caught sight of Darien whispering to his friend Andrew a few rows down from her. Her breath caught when he looked right at her and smiled, then whispered something else to Andrew before getting up and coming to sit next to her. 

Her face was burning, but she tried to cover it by whispering, "I see you forgot your books."

He grimaced and whispered back, "No matter, I'll get the notes from Andrew later. This stuff is a breeze anyway."

She glared. Math was not her strong suit, and he knew it. Not that he was helping, distracting her from the professor! For all that he had stopped talking, she was made uncomfortable by his very proximity. Did he have to sit so close that she could smell his cologne? Not that it was a bad scent...very much the opposite! He smelled altogether too pleasant, and she found herself wanting to bury her face in his shirt. And the way his hair fell into his face made her itch to brush it back, feeling the texture of that gorgeous black hair. She sighed, tapping a pencil on her desk unconsciously, trying to stop dwelling on Darien.

It was only when he put a hand over hers to make her stop that she realized she was even doing it, and then she blushed again. When she peeked up, he was looking at her with an amused little smile on his face, gorgeous azure eyes reflecting the same emotion and–what else? She looked closer, trying to determine the fleeting emotion she saw in his face, and then looked away again, realizing what she was doing.

_Why do I get all flustered around him? It's not like we're dating or anything! We're just friends, albeit friends that have only known each other for a couple weeks! We don't even have each other's phone numbers..._Abruptly, the memory of their first meeting flashed through her mind.

-

She had been running, in a hurry to get to the arcade where she would meet up with her friends. She was late because the lecture had taken longer than expected, and she didn't want them to be more irritated with her than they surely already were. At least this time she had a valid excuse!

Unfortunately, her run was brought to an abrupt halt by someone's back, knocking both of them to the ground. "Oh!" she cried out. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to run into you!" Then she had looked down and saw the wry expression on the face of the most handsome man she had ever seen.

She froze, jaw hanging open, until he politely asked, "Do you mind getting off so we can get up?"

Sheepishly, she closed her mouth and moved off of him, watching him gracefully get to his feet. When he held a hand out to help her up, she realized that she hadn't stood up yet. Cheeks brilliantly pink, she pretended to ignore the hand and got up on her own, promptly tripping on a crack in the pavement right into his arms.

He caught her, laughing, while her face burned with embarrassment. When he released her–was that reluctance?–he held on to one of her hands and said, "Hi, I'm Darien Shields."

"Serena Tsukino," she said quietly in return, unable to meet his gaze.

"Nice to meet you, Serena, but I have to run," he said. "Perhaps we'll run into each other again some time?" Grinning wickedly while she gasped in shock, he walked away.

-

She smiled thinking about it. It had, without doubt, been one of her more mortifying experiences, but on the other hand she had met this gorgeous man who was in most of her classes–how had she not noticed before?–and he seemed to like her. At least, she hoped he did. His hand was still resting on hers, she noticed, so that seemed to be a good sign. She looked from his hand to his face and found him still staring at her. He smiled and took the pencil from her limp hand and wrote something on a corner of her notebook page before getting up and going back to sit by Andrew.

She tore her gaze away from him to look down at the page. It said:

Dinner tonight? 567-9036

She smiled and tore the page out, then closed the notebook as the bell rang, resisting looking at him, though she felt that he was looking at her. She ripped off a scrap of paper and wrote the word "yes" on it, then slipped it to him as he walked by on his way out of the lecture hall.

After she had put her books away, she shouldered her bag and left the hall herself, feeling giddy. She was going to have dinner with Darien tonight, and she had his phone number. Maybe he did like her.

* * *

Right. Well, just let me know what you think. -.-' 

'Twould be much appreciated...


	2. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two:**

"So?" he asked.

"So what?" Darien replied, having a hard time keeping a wide smile off of his face.

"So did she say yes or what?" Andrew asked impatiently as they ate lunch.

The grin finally broke free of its restraint to spread across his face. "She said yes!" he exclaimed in jubilation, then looked around and visibly forced himself to calm down. "Now maybe I'll finally figure out how to stop those dreams."

"They're still bothering you, man?" Andrew asked with some concern.

"Yeah, nothing seems to work," Darien sighed.

There wasn't any more time to talk, since lunch was over and they had separate classes. As they parted, the smile returned to Darien's face. He had a date with Serena. Maybe finally the dreams would stop. Then he frowned. _I won't do with her what I did with all the other girls...with Sere I should take it slower. No sex on the first date, Darien! Control yourself! _

"Hey, Darien!" came a shout from behind him, shaking him out of his thoughts. Turning around, he saw the object of his dreams jogging towards him.

"What's up, Serena?" he asked as casually as he could when she caught up, trying not to let his eyes wander.

"I was just wondering what time we'd be going tonight, and whether dress is casual or formal," she said a little breathily, trying to catch her breath. "You walk too fast, you know that?"

He smiled.

"Uh oh, where's Andrew?" she asked, looking around. "Who are you going to get your notes from for this class?" She grinned wickedly.

"Well," he drawled, "I was sort of hoping a certain blonde girl with blue eyes would give me the notes, since she's in my class and all." He glanced sideways at her to gauge her response. Her cheeks were still tinged pink from earlier, but he thought he caught a flash of pleasure at his request.

"I'll give them to you," she said, "but I'm not promising they'll be helpful. I'm not really very good at taking notes...it's easier to just remember things." They had entered their building and were now at the door of their classroom.

"I'm sure whatever you write down will be fine," he replied. "By the way, I'll pick you up at six, and let's go with semiformal attire for the evening," he said as they sat down next to each other.

By then the professor had come in–a strict woman who tolerated no interruptions in her class and expected absolute adherence to the rules–and they had to stop talking. That didn't stop him from glancing at Serena every few seconds, though–he couldn't help it. She was concentrating on the professor, chewing on the inside corner of her lip. At least she didn't stick her tongue out while she tried to figure something out, or have her mouth hanging open. Though he would have been attracted to her even if she did do those things.

* * *

She stretched when the professor finally dismissed them. This class was always so interminably long–and no wonder, it lasted for 2 hours three times a week. Then she smiled. She was done for the day!

"Hey, Serena! Wait up!"

Snapping out of her daze, she realized she had left the building entirely and was walking quickly off the small campus and towards the little arcade a few blocks away. She stopped and waited for Darien to catch up. "Sorry," she said when he did.

"Damn, and you complain that I walk too fast! I just wanted to know where to pick you up tonight, I have no idea where you live," he said quickly.

"Oh!" she exclaimed. "Well...are you finished for the day?" she asked.

"Yeah," he replied.

"Good, come with me to the arcade and I'll write it down for you," she said with a small smile. To think, when the day started she had wondered if he liked her. Now she had a date with him _and _his phone number, and he was walking with her to one of her favorite places simply to get her address. Most guys wouldn't go to so much trouble for a date, but he was different.

They walked closely side by side, occasionally brushing against each other as they talked about various things, from college classes and professors to likes and dislikes. All too soon they reached the arcade where she set her bag down on a vacant table and pulled out a sheet of paper and a pen, scrawling her address on it.

When he saw what she had written, he laughed. "You live in the Heights too, huh? I live in the first building. I can't believe the door buzzers are broken."

"No way!" she exclaimed, eyes wide with shock. "I can't believe this, all this time we've lived in neighboring buildings! How have we never seen each other there?"

He shrugged. "Beats me. But hey, I've got to get going, I forgot that I told Andrew to drop by my place at four so I could get his notes...it's 3:45 now..."

"Ok, I'll see you around six, then," she replied, smiling.

After he had left, she ordered a chocolate/strawberry malt. While she sipped at it, she realized that she hadn't gotten his apartment number. _Oh well, _she thought. _Plenty of time for that later! _Her eyes wandered to the clock, and she realized that it was nearly five o'clock. Panicking, she threw a five dollar bill on the table and dashed out of the arcade, leaving her malt only half-consumed. She had to get ready for her date!

* * *

Darien went to his closet after Andrew left. 4:15. In about an hour and fifteen minutes he'd meander his way over to Serena's place to pick her up. He thought perhaps that he'd take her to the nice little Italian restaurant downtown, and since it had been a warm, sunny day–and the evening looking promising, as well–he thought they could walk. He shrugged. That decision would be best left to her.

Now, to find something to wear...he HAD said semiformal...

-

Half an hour passed and he had finally decided on a dark blue button-up shirt and plain black slacks. Running a hand through his hair, he decided that it would be best if he showered and shaved–his face was a little rough. He didn't want the good night kiss to scratch her delicate skin. Looking at the clock, he realized he had to hurry.

* * *

She reached her apartment building in a record time of 5 minutes flat, and ran up the steps to the third floor, then rummaged around her bag trying to find her keys as she hurriedly walked to her door.

"Oh, dear god no...I can't have forgotten my keys again, not today!" she said frantically.

Further search proved that she had, indeed, forgotten her keys again–today of all days. That meant that she would have to go up the unstable fire escape and crawl in the window...she hated having to do that! The fire escape was ancient and rusty. Realizing that she couldn't dawdle, however, she ran back down the stairs and out the front door to the side of the building. She looked at the rusted metal stairs with some trepidation for a moment, and began climbing, praying that it would hold up one last time and thanking whatever gods existed that she left that window unlocked at all times.

When she reached her window, she very carefully pushed it open, but before she could get more than her head and shoulders inside, the already wobbly fire escape shook one last time and collapsed, leaving her dangling out her window from her ribs down.

* * *

Oh dear, what will happen next? Will Serena fall to her death? More importantly, will she get inside her apartment and get ready before Darien comes to pick her up? Find out, in the next chapter of "To Feel Your Lips"!

Alright, chapter two finished...I couldn't believe it when I got 8 reviews last night. Thank you very much to all of you, and if you like you should go read my first SM fic, "Confession."


	3. Chapter Three

**Chapter Three:**

She hung there numbly, trembling and whimpering softly, gripping tightly to the inside of the windowsill. "Luna," she managed to gasp out. Unfortunately, Luna was nowhere to be seen. It was likely that the cat had slipped out behind her when she had left this morning, and was wandering around the town somewhere, whiling away the time. A tear squeezed out of Serena's eye, trickling its way down her cheek.

When the initial trembling had eased somewhat and her arms began to ache with the effort of keeping herself from falling, she extended one of her arms to grab for the couch. Reaching it with some difficulty, she tried to pull herself inside. No luck. _Damn it, why didn't I ever work out? _She asked herself. _Now I'm probably going to die because of it..._

* * *

He was walking through his living room buttoning his shirt when he glanced out the window and saw over half of someone's body hanging out the window of the apartment directly across from him in the next building. _Funny, that girl's got hair like Serena's...and she was wearing a grey skirt with black tights today too...and...a..._

"White jacket!"

Not stopping to put on his shoes, he ran out of the apartment and down the stairs, leaving the building and running directly to the next one. _Thank god the buzzers are broken! _He exclaimed to himself as he shot through the door and up the stairs of her building.

When he reached her door and tried the handle, it was locked. "Damn it!" he cursed aloud.

"Serena!" he shouted through the door. "I'm going to break your door open!" He heard a sobbing reply from inside, but couldn't understand it. Not wasting anymore time, he backed up to the wall opposite the door and ran shoulder-first into it. It shook, but didn't quite give, so he did it again, and this time the wood around the doorknob splintered and broke. The door flew open and he was inside, hurrying over to the window.

Kneeling on the couch, he put his hands under Serena's arms, lifted and pulled her into the apartment, hardly even noticing the sharp pain in his shoulder from ramming the door. She fell gratefully into his arms, her body trembling with fear and fatigue from hanging there for who knew how long. He held her close to him, stroking her hair and murmuring soothing words as the adrenaline brought on by fear for her began to subside and his heart stopped pounding fit to burst out of his chest.

"Is everything alright in here?" a male voice asked, echoed by other murmurs in the hall.

He opened his eyes and Serena raised her head to see the crowd in the doorway.

* * *

When she saw it was the landlord, all thought of fear vanished, replaced by rage. "No, everything most certainly is NOT alright!" she shouted. "Do you know what happened? _The fire escape collapsed under me!_ I have spent the past–" she glanced at the clock– "fifteen minutes dangling out my window! Just think if there had actually been a fire or some emergency some time and someone had tried to go out the fire escape only to fall to their death_ because you're too damned lazy to build a safer escape!" _

She heard murmurs of agreement from the hallway as the man's face turned red.

"It's a damn lucky thing Darien somehow saw me hanging there and came over right away to save my life, because I wouldn't have been able to hold on much longer!" Her rage melted away in remembrance of how close she had come to serious, if not deadly, harm. Her knees trembled and she started to sink back into the couch, but Darien was standing behind her wrapped an arm around her to support her. She leaned against him, relieved.

"You will pay for the damages to her door, I trust," he said in a soft–but not by any means gentle–tone to the landlord. "I imagine you'll also be fixing this fire escape and replacing all the others, right?"

More murmurs of angry agreement came from the hall and the landlord's face blanched white. He knew he wouldn't be getting out alive if he didn't agree, so he nodded curtly and said, "It'll get done," before shoving people out of his way in his haste to get out.

* * *

Shortly after the man left, the crowd in the hall dispersed. Closing the door to the apartment as best as he could and shoving a chair in front of it to keep it that way, Darien turned back to look at Serena. "Are you ok?" he asked with concern.

She smiled wanly up at him. "You saved my life, of course I'm ok," she said softly.

"Do you need to go to the hospital or anything?"

She shook her head. "No, I'm just shaken up and a little bruised, is all. Darien, I'm sorry, but...I think I'm going to have to postpone our date for tonight...I don't really think I should go anywhere tonight."

He stared blankly for a moment, then said, "Well of course you shouldn't go anywhere tonight! Are you crazy? And if you think I'm going to leave you alone, you _are _insane!" He went over to kneel in front of the couch, his hands gripping her legs. "Besides, where were you planning on staying?" he asked. "Definitely not here, anyone could get in. You're going to stay with me until your door is fixed. You can have my room, I'll sleep on my sleeper sofa."

She stared at him, bemused and a little surprised, thinking perhaps he was joking, but his face showed nothing but sincerity and concern for her, and his grip on her thighs was strong. His deep blue eyes held hers and she couldn't look away. "Please?" he whispered.

Suddenly, all the emotion from earlier flooded her and she found her hands on either side of his face and her lips crushed against his.

He froze, shocked, but it didn't last long. If she wanted to kiss him he wasn't going to argue. He released and slid a hand under her hair to grip the back of her neck while the other snaked around her back as he moved up on the couch with her, pushing her down onto her back as his tongue prodded her lips gently, asking permission to enter. She gave it gladly, her fingers running back through his hair down to his neck. When her tongue rubbed up against his, all the frustration of his dreams came back and he maneuvered them expertly so that she was sprawled on top of him.

She stared down at him, her eyes glazed with desire, her lips bruised from their kissing, and her hair forming a curtain around them. Once again he was forcibly reminded of his dreams and he dug the fingers of one hand into her waist and pulled her down for another passionate kiss with the other. He slipped his hand under her shirt and caressed the delicate skin lightly, and true to his dream she twitched delightfully, gasping in surprise as her lips left his once more. Her torso lifted off of him enough that he could trail his fingers up to her ribs and brush against the hem of her bra. She shuddered with pleasure, and then flinched in pain when he brushed too roughly against a bruise.

_God, what am I doing? _He asked himself, snapping out of the lust that had been driving him. "Are you alright?" he asked her, while mentally berating himself. _She's just had a traumatic experience, you dolt, you should have pulled away when she first kissed you! What happened to "take it slow with Serena, no sex on the first date?" _

"Darien?" Serena asked. The way she said it, he had a feeling that she had tried to get his attention more than once. "Darien, are you ok?"

"Yeah," he sighed, while his body screamed _NO _in frustration.

"I'll stay with you," she said, "at least until my door gets fixed."

* * *

Oooh, I'm sorry, was that a tease? grin Please don't kill me:P I'll update soon, I promise.

Thanks so much for the reviews, guys, and a big thanks to the two that read and reviewed Confession!


	4. Chapter Four

**Chapter Four: **

Her door was still not fixed. It had been a week, and her door was still broken. Not that Darien wanted her to go away...he immensely enjoyed her company. She brought a bright cheer to his otherwise dull apartment, and they had gone out on a couple of dates since that fateful day.

There was just one problem.

Her proximity was driving him crazy. The dreams had gotten worse–he now had fantasies that he walked into his bedroom where she slept and kissed her, and kept kissing her...but he'd wake before much more than a little making out had happened and wondered why he was on the sofa sleeper alone. Life was getting hectic, and it didn't help that he had seen the little pajamas she wore to bed. Oh, she was always wearing a terrycloth robe when she was around the apartment in them, but he had seen them on the floor by the bed one morning while she was in the shower.

Not that he was snooping around her things! It just so happened that his closet was IN his bedroom, and he needed to get clothes out of it every morning. When he saw the little short shorts and the tank top that was hardly fit to be called a tank top, he groaned. How was he going to survive? The girl was driving him positively crazy, and there was nothing he could do about it. He was actually succeeding in taking their relationship somewhat slow. He had kept their kisses to just that–kisses, and had resisted going any farther than that, but he didn't know how much longer he could continue to do this while she was living in his place.

_Oh no, not again, _he thought when he went into his room that morning. Her pajamas were on the floor by the bed again, and he couldn't help but wonder what wore under her robe when she went to get in the shower. _Damn it, stop thinking about that! _

He realized that he had been standing in the same spot for some time when Serena walked up behind him. "Are you alright, Darien?" she asked.

"Yes, I'm fine," he lied, trying his hardest not to think about what was under her robe as he looked at her.

"You know, you really can sleep in your own room, I would be fine on the couch. I know this is an imposition, me staying here for so long. How can I make it up to you?" she asked, looking up at him with those big blue eyes, her long hair wrapped up in a white white towel.

_You could start by sharing my bed with me..._he wanted to say, but said instead, "There's no need, Serena. We've been over this before. You don't need to pay me back for anything and I don't care about sleeping on the couch."

She stepped close to him and reached up to stroke the side of his face, her body not quite touching him. It didn't matter, he was taken in anyway by her freshly showered scent. He found his hands on her hips and had to fight to keep himself from pulling her tightly into his arms while he ravaged her mouth with his. "Are you sure?" she whispered seductively, standing up on her tip-toes to kiss him on the lips lightly.

* * *

His hands tightened on her hips as his body responded to her tone. Serena wondered if she had finally made him snap, and hoped desperately that she had. Since that first time they had kissed so passionately, he had been more reserved and rigidly in control, keeping any passion he might be feeling sternly in check. She was getting immensely frustrated with him. She knew he wanted her, but she couldn't seem to get him to even show it, much less act on it!

_On the other hand, he's taking it slow rather than simply trying to jump me like all the others. I suppose I should be grateful, _she thought.

His hands moved up from her hips to her waist and he let out a shuddering breath. _Ah, perhaps I've finally done it..._she thought, and then couldn't find a coherent thought to save her life when he lowered his mouth to hers, but instead of crushing his lips on hers, he kissed her slowly and tauntingly, his tongue teasing hers while his hands moving up from her waist to her ribs, so close to her breasts...

He pulled away from her mouth and put his lips by her ear. "Is this what you want?" he whispered roughly, his breath hot on her skin.

"God, yes," she gasped out. When he let her go, she nearly fell and groaned with disappointment.

He chuckled deep in his throat as he looked at her, his eyes filled with hunger. This was the Darien she had seen a glimpse of that day at her apartment...this was the Darien she had been trying so hard to bring back out.

* * *

He raked over her body with his eyes as he stood back. How could he not go to her, standing there with her wet hair tumbling down about her shoulders from the towel falling off her head? Her so kissable lips were parted, her chest heaving as she watched him. He pulled his shirt over his head and rid himself of the sweatpants that were doing little to hide his arousal, anyway.

In his underwear, he stepped closer to her and put a hand on the tie of her robe, looking at her face to make sure this was indeed what she wanted him to do. "Please," she whispered, nearly undoing his control. If he was going to do this, he was going to do it right, and not merely thrust himself upon her. He was going to take it slow, to make damn sure she needed him as much as he needed her. He was going to make her feel the lust that he felt in full measure.

He pulled on the tie of the robe and it came undone. He slipped his shaking hands inside the robe at her waist and trailed them softly up her sides to her ribs to the sides of her breasts. She trembled with anticipation when he reached that point, and he lingered, his fingers caressing just the sides before he moved up and to her shoulders to slide the robe to the floor. He put his hands carefully on her waist and pushed her onto her back on the bed, taking a moment to drink in her naked glory. He carefully settled himself next to her on his side and kissed her none too gently before she could ask the question he saw in her eyes.

She kissed him back ardently, her hands in his hair. He pulled out of the kiss and stroked her face, then trailed his fingers down her neck, his lips following the trail his fingers marked. He nibbled the tender skin of her neck softly, not wanting to mar the perfect skin with bruises, while his fingers moved down from her neck and found one of her nipples. She moaned, running her hands through his hair and down the back of his neck, making a shiver run down his spine. His hand spasmed on her breast. Skipping the expanse of skin between her neck and her breasts, he moved his mouth quickly to the nipple he had been fondling and suckled on it, teasing it lightly with his teeth and his tongue. It was her turn to shiver, and her nails dug into her shoulders as her back arched to get more. He moved to cover her body more completely with his own, and she spread her legs obligingly while he still teased her nipple. He abruptly released it and looked into her eyes. They were dark with desire. Propping himself up on his elbow, he touched her lips and then trailed his fingers down over her chin, down her neck, between her breasts and over her stomach to move down still farther over her left hip bone and down her thigh. She stared up at him, panting and trembling, and he trailed his fingers up the inside of her thigh slowly, so slowly...

His fingers had just reached the warm, wet delicate folds of skin at the apex of her legs when a loud knock sounded on the door to his apartment. He froze, and growled angrily. "Ignore it, Darien...please..." Serena whimpered, twitching under him. He wanted nothing more than to obey her.

"Darien? Serena?" Andrew's voice came from the other side of the door. "You guys there?"He cursed roundly under his breath and kissed Serena roughly on the lips before standing up and throwing his pants back on. He picked up her robe and tossed it to her before leaving the room and closing the door behind him.

He walked to the apartment door and flung it open, glaring at Andrew as he walked in. "Hey, man, what's wrong?" Andrew asked, looking more than a little scared at the fury in Darien's face.

* * *

Anyone hate me? Hehe...ok, this is fun.

In response to Edens-MoonlightAngel–I try. Cliffhangers are something I'm good at, apparently. Lmao.

Thanks again to everyone for reviewing the story, I appreciate it so much and hope that you'll check out some of my other stuff some time. You guys are great. Thank you.


	5. Chapter Five

**Chapter Five:**

Serena lay on the bed a few minutes longer in an effort to get her harsh breathing under control. This was so unfair! She had finally gotten him to do more than kiss her chastely–had damn near had sex with him–and _Andrew _came over!

* * *

"You need to leave," Darien said. 

"What? I just got here!" Andrew exclaimed, still a little scared at how angry his friend was. Then realization dawned on him. "You're getting ready to...um...yeah...Right, I'll just...I'll be going now, see you!" he said, his face flushed with embarrassment as he scooted out the still-open door. Before Darien had a chance to close the door, Andrew popped back and said, "By the way, I found out that Serena's door has been fixed and the landlord will be here soon to tell you the good news. Just thought you'd want to know!" Then he was gone again.

Darien slammed the door behind his friend and then sat down on the couch, hanging his head in his hands. _What am I doing, anyway? _He sighed. His sexual frustration was getting to him, making him do things he didn't want to do.

Didn't want to? Oh no, he wanted to. But did she really want to, or was she just trying to pay him back for saving her and letting her stay with him? Where was this relationship going, anyway? Was it going to be meaningful and loving? Would they end up getting married, or was this just about sex?

Earlier arousal forgotten, he simply sat there wondering until a hand started stroking his head.

* * *

Serena heard mumbling, and then she heard the front door slam. There wasn't a sound outside the bedroom door now, and she wondered what was going on. Standing up, she flung her robe about her shoulders carelessly, tying it loosely around her thin frame, and opened the door. Darien was sitting on the couch with his head in his hands, and Andrew was nowhere to be seen. She padded silently behind him and started stroking his hair, running her fingers through it. 

When he looked up she stepped in front of him and tenderly removed strands of hair that felt like black silk from his forehead, and cupped his face in her hands. "What's wrong?" she asked.

She looked like an angel, in spite of her tangled hair and haphazardly thrown-on robe. Her shining blue eyes looked down at him, her lips curled slightly up at the corners. His doubts drained away as he looked up at her, realizing how attached he had become to her since they had met. She was an angel–albeit a rather devilish one, he thought wryly, recalling what they had been doing before Andrew had interrupted them–and he would be a fool to ever let her go. As he looked up at her in silence, he realized that she was the only one he had cared about enough to try and take the relationship slowly. With the others it had been solely about the sex, but that just hadn't been enough and those past relationships had lost their attraction quickly. He hadn't cared to learn anything more about them–nor they him–than absolutely necessary.

He knew Serena almost as well as Andrew, and had known her for only a few weeks–though he had only really begun to learn about her personality and her life over this past week. He started to smile.

"What?" she asked, smiling back at him.

"I've just realized something, is all," he said softly and reached up to stroke her cheek with his thumb.

"And what did you realize?" she queried.

"I love you, Sere," he replied.

* * *

She looked down into his eyes staring so sincerely up at her and her breath caught in her chest. He loved her? Tears welled up in her eyes. He loved her. She stood speechless, and then yet another knock came on the door. 

He squeezed one of her hands before standing and fixing her robe. "You'd better go get dressed, Sere," he whispered as the landlord shouted through the door that he was here. Still speechless, she stared up at him until he pushed her in the direction of his room. "Go on," he said, a small smile of amusement on his lips.

She went.

* * *

He opened the door just as the irritating man was about to knock again and had his mouth open to shout. The man closed his mouth, then opened it again. "Yes, well, good, you're home. Is Miss Tsukino here?" 

"Yeah, she'll be out in a minute," Darien replied, looking down at him and purposely not moving out of the man's way to invite him in.

"Who is it, Darien?" she asked, her tone full of innocence as she walked up behind him. When he turned to look at her, she was pulling her hair into a ponytail. _She sure did get dressed fast, _he thought to himself, then smirked a bit. _Not that she had much to do but put _on _the clothes. _"Oh, Mister Reynolds! How's the door coming?" she asked sweetly, a small smile on her face.

Mr. Reynolds' face was red, his lips a thin white line of anger. "Your door's been fixed, Miss Tsukino, and the new lock put on it. Here's your key," he said, thrusting it at her.

"Why, thank you!" she said, her tone still all sugar compared to his rather irritated one. "It's good to know that I can finally move back into my place. When will the new fire escape be going up, anyway?" she asked. "After all, if new ones aren't put up, I'm afraid I'll have to sue you for last week's...incident."

The man's face turned a deep shade of magenta, but much to the surprise of both Serena and Darien he bit down on whatever retort he wanted to make and simply waddled off down the hall to the elevator.

Once he had gotten onto the elevator, Darien closed the door and turned to Serena, a broad grin on his face. "I had no idea you were such an excellent blackmailer," he said, putting his hands on her waist and looking down at her.

She laughed, the silvery sound of it making his spirit soar.

He would be a fool indeed if he ever let her go without one hell of a fight.

* * *

Alright. Chapter 5. I know, not very exciting, but I have to draw it out so you guys will keep reading, don't I-wink- 

Anyway, I'll say some individual thanks when the story's finished, and who know when that will be. :S Hopefully soon, I'm feeling the call of The Flight of Raven Firestorm. I've left Reanna alone for far too long and she'll be getting rather frustrated that her life has been put on hold. She's a rather dangerous girl to get in the way of, so I'll try to wrap this up.

So now I'll sign off for the moment with a great big THANK YOU to everyone that's reviewed this story, and the several people that have added me to their author alert list (and even a few to their favorite authors lists!).


	6. Chapter Six

**Chapter Six: **

Serena sat at the desk in her apartment, staring forlornly at her math book. It was, as usual, making no sense to her whatsoever.

It had been a couple hours since Darien had helped her get packed up and back into her own place. They would have gone out to eat or something, but they both had class tomorrow, and homework had been put off long enough. It was nice to be in her own home, with all of her things, but at the same time she missed Darien terribly. It had been so nice to spend so much time with him, and it was made that much lonelier by her knowledge that he loved her. She loved him too, but she hadn't had the chance to tell him since they had been busy packing her up. Ah well, there would be time to tell him later.

She scowled down at the book, wishing she could do anything besides this. She was already finished with her Lit. homework, and that only left this wretched math. Honestly, why did an English major need to know anything beyond addition, subtraction, multiplication and division? It was ridiculous.

Looking at the clock, she realized that it _was _getting pretty late...and didn't she need sleep to be able to function well in school? Grinning, she pushed her chair back from the desk and stood up, stretching. She glanced out the window towards Darien's apartment, directly across from her own. There weren't any lights on. _He must have finished his homework already, _she thought wryly. He was good at math, the jerk.

She locked the door and turned out the lights in the living room/dining room and kitchen, then went to get changed into her pajamas before going into the bathroom to brush her teeth and hair before going to sleep.

Finally ready for bed, she turned out her bedroom light and crawled between the sheets of the bed she had become unaccustomed to. _I wonder if Darien's asleep yet? _she asked herself as her eyes drooped closed.

* * *

As Serena drifted off to sleep, Darien lay awake in his bed, thinking about his angel. He missed her, and though it was admittedly nice to sleep in his bed rather than on the sofa sleeper, he would much rather Serena were here. The empty quality had restored itself to his apartment when he had come back from her place. He sighed, and resigned himself to sleep.

_He smiled as he looked at her. She was beautiful, as always, sitting next to him on his bed. She was talking animatedly, but he was hardly listening–he was simply watching the way she used her hands as she talked, the way her eyes sparkled when she was happy. _

_When she turned to him and kissed him, he kissed her back, and would have kept kissing her, but she pulled away from him. He opened his eyes, and saw that the expression on her face was deadly serious. "Something's wrong," she said. _

_Suddenly she was gone, and he heard a cry of, "Help me!" _

_Though it sounded like it was down a tunnel, the voice was unmistakable. _

"Serena!" he shouted as he woke up in a cold sweat. There was a dark feeling of foreboding taking over him, and he shivered.

He got out of bed to get a glass of water, but as he gulped it down, the feeling didn't go away. It merely grew stronger. Grimly, he put on some shoes and a jacket. It wouldn't hurt to go make sure Serena was ok, he thought. He grabbed the copy of her key they had made earlier that day and headed out the door.

* * *

A loud thump in the darkness woke her from a deep sleep. _Damn Luna...always running into things in the dark..._she told herself as she started to fall asleep, a warm ball of fur in her arms. Warm ball of fur? _Luna! _She woke fully this time and looked down at the black cat whose amber eyes were staring back at her. If Luna was in here...then what was out there?

She heard another thump and the sound of someone cursing drifted through her closed bedroom door. When she was about to leap out of the bed to grab something to throw at the intruder, she heard him start to turn the doorknob. She curled up in a ball on the bed as far away from the door as she could get, fear freezing her limbs. Luna's fur was bristled, her claws out, and she was hissing at the door. So much for the vague hope that it was Darien, but he wouldn't be sneaking about her apartment late at night, scaring her half to death.

The door slowly opened, to reveal a short figure swathed in dark clothing, a mask over the face. A dull gleam of the dim light off of metal told her that there was a knife in the man's hand. He walked casually over to her bed, and when he went to lift Luna by the scruff of her neck, the cat spat and scratched his hand deeply, then bolted out the bedroom door. Cursing fluently, the man dropped his knife and snatched Serena's arm, yanking her to him while she whimpered in fear.

* * *

When Darien reached Serena's apartment, he saw that her door was wide open. His feeling of foreboding confirmed, he went carefully inside, not wanting to be surprised by finding a burglar with a weapon in the front room. He flipped the light on, and saw no one. When he heard a whimpering/sobbing noise coming from the bedroom, he sprinted through the apartment into Serena's room. When he saw a short man in dark clothing had hold of her and was trying to force her down onto her back, he saw red. Grabbing the man by his arms, he turned him around and, holding the front of the man's shirt, he punched the man hard in the face, making his head snap back.

The man collapsed–or tried to, Darien still had hold of his shirt and held him up before him. Darien ripped the mask off and stared in shock.

* * *

Heh...Anyone know who the mysterious man is? .


	7. Chapter Seven

**Ah yes, the one you've all been waiting for...just in case some of you weren't expecting this and would rather not read it, please turn away now, as this is a lemon. Don't say I didn't warn you.**

**Also...I'm aware that this chapter looks really long...but there were a lot of people that reviewed, so I thanked you all!**

**Chapter Seven:**

"Reynolds?" Darien asked numbly.

"Yes, you prick," the man said, his nose bleeding profusely. "Put me down."

Darien's anger rose again. "Not until you tell me what you were doing in Serena's apartment," he growled.

"She's a nuisance, telling me to do this and that!" Reynolds shouted. "If I scared her into moving out...well, so much the better!"

Abruptly, the man was moaning in pain again, as Darien had once more landed a solid punch to his already broken nose. This time, Darien dropped him. "Serena, call the cops," he said calmly. "I'll keep an eye on this bastard until they get here."

When a very shaken Serena quickly left the room to make the phone call, Darien nudged Reynolds with his foot. "I suggest you behave," he said mildly, "or I'll have to hit you again, you coward."

* * *

The police, surprisingly enough, made it in a record five minutes. After taking statements from Serena (who was still shaky and pale), Darien (who had only seen the aftermath, not the actual break-in), and Reynolds (whose nose was still bleeding–let the paramedics take care of that), they put Reynolds in handcuffs and took him down to their precinct.

"There won't be a trial, since the man's already claimed he's guilty and had the key to the apartment on him. He'll go to jail for a few years, but he won't be getting this job back, I'm sure," one of the police officers said before leaving. "You probably won't have to do anything else with this case but sue him–which I would highly advise–or simply get on with life."

The officer had tipped his hat and then followed his comrades and the complaining Reynolds.

Darien went to Serena and put his arms around her as soon as he had closed and locked the door. "Are you alright?" he asked with concern. She was trembling in his arms.

"No," she whispered. "Don't leave me."

"I won't, Sere. I won't."

She took him by the hand and led him into her room, where they sat on the edge of her bed, his arm draped over her shoulders. "You saved me again," she said softly.

"I'd never let anything bad happen to you," he said firmly. "Never."

"Darien...I love you," she said then, looking suddenly up into his eyes.

He smiled down at her and gave her what was intended to be a chaste kiss on her lips. He was surprised, therefore, when she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him passionately. When he gently pulled back for a breather, he said, "I don't know if we should do this."

"Why not?" she asked.

"Because you've just had yet another traumatic experience...I don't want you to do anything you might regret," he answered reluctantly, already regretting the words coming out of his mouth.

"But I want to do this, Darien, if you'll recall what we were doing before Andrew interrupted us this morning," she replied, her tone sounding frustrated. "Now if you would be so kind as to do what I want you to do..."

He didn't need to hear any more. He kissed her hard on the mouth, their tongues twining around each other as his hands worked her robe open and quickly discarded it, to move to her tiny little tank top. Their lips parted for a moment only to pull the article of clothing up over her head, but then they were lip-locked again, and he was pulling on her shorts while she tugged at his sweat pants.

Realizing they weren't going to get anywhere this way, they parted and each took off the rest of their own clothing before wrapping their arms around each other once more and falling on the bed together.

As much as he wanted to take it slow, he couldn't refrain from her warmth any longer. This was just as well, since Serena seemed to want to get to it as quickly as he did.

He positioned himself at her opening, then crushed his mouth down on hers once more as he thrust inside her. When he began to move, she writhed in pleasure and moaned against his mouth. He pulled his lips away from hers to better hear her sounds of enjoyment. Her nails were raking into his shoulders and down his back as she arched into him, tightening all around him and making him groan as he came near to losing his control.

Not that there was much of that. He was moving in and out of her in a frenzy of need, and she met him thrust for thrust eagerly. When she gasped as if in surprise and her body shuddered, tightening even more on him, he could at last find the sweet release that had been so needed. They were locked still in that moment, but for a moment only as they each collapsed, breathing hard. He had been careful in his own collapse to brace himself on his elbows so he didn't crush her, and he hung his head by her neck as he tried to catch his breath.

"It's..." Serena gasped, "never been like that."

"And what was 'that' like?" he asked with some wry amusement.

"OH god, Darien, that was good, that was better than good...that was heaven," she whispered.

He smiled into her neck, pleased.

"Can we...can we do it again?" she asked, some ten minutes later.

Darien chuckled low in his throat. "Oh yes, we'll be doing that again. And again, and again, until one of us dies."

Before she could ask what that meant, he covered her mouth with his in a slow, languorous kiss that left her gasping for more. He trailed kisses down her neck to her breasts, and quickly teased one of the nipples up to a point with his mouth while doing the same to the other with his hand. Her back arched as she sighed with pleasure, unable to get enough of his touches, of his mouth so hot on her skin. He suckled gently on the nipple that had been previously occupied by his hand before moving on to trail more kisses downward. He nibbled delicately on her navel and then skipped down to the inside of her leg by her knee, but no longer was he kissing and nibbling his way downward.

She twitched and groaned, desperate for him to reach his destination, her hands clenched in the sheets. When he finally reached the center of her pleasure, he hesitated, grinning wickedly at her–a look she knew so well. "Get on with it!" she rasped out.

"As you command," he murmured. He proceeded to drive her wild with his tongue, causing electric sensations to ripple throughout her entire body until she had to bite down on a pillow to keep from screaming at the pleasure of what he was doing to her. He stopped when she was on the cusp of her climax, and moved infuriatingly slowly up her body the way he had gone down. When the tip of his throbbing penis touched her teasingly, she couldn't stand it anymore.

She pushed him off of her, having the satisfaction of seeing shock on his face as he rolled onto his back. In spite of her body crying out to be satisfied, she kissed him on the mouth once and then slithered down his body, her unbound hair following. She rubbed his manhood between her breasts before moving even farther down and taking him slowly into her mouth. He half gasped, half moaned as her warm, wet mouth closed over him. He shuddered with the same sensations he had been causing in her not too long ago, and when he was about to warn her of his imminent climax, she withdrew her mouth and positioned herself above him, grinning seductively.

She remained in this position, rubbing herself against the tip of his penis so tauntingly until he placed his hands firmly on her hips and pulled her completely down onto him. She cried out in ecstacy, then she removed his hands from her waist and put them above his head. "Keep them there," she whispered. "Hold onto the bars if you must, but keep your hands up there."

He did grip the bars tightly when she started to move slowly, teasingly. She would drag him nearly completely out of her and hover for a moment before crashing back down on him again. She was taking him to the edge and holding him there time after time.

When he could finally stand her torment no longer, he broke her rule by pulling her down for a kiss and rolling her expertly over onto her back, their bodies never parting. He would have teased her more, but he was too close to care, and as he thrust he waited for the signs of her climax. Thankfully he didn't have to wait long, and once again he released his seed into her body, this time rolling them both onto their sides when they collapsed.

They lay side by side under the covers some time later, and as they drifted off to sleep Serena remembered his comment earlier. "Darien?"

"Yeah?" he asked, opening the eye closest to her to gaze at her.

"What did you mean, when you said we'd be doing that again and again until one of us dies?"

A smile cracked his face. "I'm going to marry you, Sere," he answered.

"Really?" she asked. "How do you know?"

"I know because I love you and I'll never leave you," he replied, pulling her into his arms and tucking her head under his chin on his chest.

"Oh," she replied happily, and fell asleep.

As her breathing became slow and deep, he kissed the top of her head and fell asleep himself–the first good night of sleep he had had in weeks.

* * *

Alright, this story is finished! And yes, I know it was rather obvious that the landlord was the one in Serena's apartment...lol. I like to throw in an evil character in all my stories. I guess it's just one of my little quirks, lol.

So, you guys all got your lemon AND a sweet ending, whaddya think about that?

Anywho, I promised I'd do individual thank-yous, so here we go!

Edens-MoonlightAngel–Thanks so much for your reviews throughout the story! I very much appreciate it! If you thought this was good, you should really read Confession. That was a much better-written–not to mention more inspired–story. And I've never really had a whole lot of trouble with fast updating. The words just seem to flow from me most of the time. Granted, I do get the occasional funk, but it generally goes away within a couple days.

Anhthy–If you kept reading...what'd you think? Thanks for the review, I appreciate it much.

DeepBlueQL–I hope it lived up to your hopes! I actually had no idea I was keeping true to the characters, lol, thanks for letting me know!

BunnyBunny–Not too terribly short, eh? It's actually longer than I thought it would be, but this really doesn't surprise me. I'm a terrible judge of story length as I'm writing it. :S

Kiria–Thanks for the praise! I'm always happy to hear that a reader can't get enough of my work.

Scorpion's Lady–Thank you for the review, how'd you like the rest of it?

Over-obsessed-sailormoonfan–Did I update quickly enough for you? ;)

Care–Yeah, I never liked the fics where he's a jerk...glad to see you feel the same! I like to think of the gorgeous Darien as a kind and loving person...

Autumndark–Thanks for the review...and yes, cliffhangers are somewhat of a specialty of mine, lmao. They're just so damn FUN, you know?

Selphie–Thanks for following the story and reviewing throughout, I appreciate it so very much. How'd you like the lemon? Good? Bad? Smutty? Heh.

Jessica–Thanks for the review, I hope you liked the rest of the story!

VenusGodd3ss–I'm glad you liked it, thank you so much for your review–of both this story AND Confession! Thank you so much!

Reviewer–Thanks for the reviews, I greatly appreciate it!

Dreamsof2morrow–Thanks muchly for the review, I'm glad you liked the story!

Becx–Wow, it's really hard to type that...finger didn't want to find the "x," lol. Anyway, thanks for your reviews, I hope you found this chapter the tastiest of all. I know that one chapter wasn't exciting, but there has to be ONE in a story, it seems. -sigh-

Aquahearts357–Glad you liked it, thanks much for your reviews!

Ashpup–Thanks for your reviews, and it's very flattering that you added me to your favorite authors list–thank you very much!

Sesshoumaru's-mate-4eva–Thanks for the review...and as I said to Autumndark above, cliffies are a specialty of mine...I've got to keep people reading somehow! ;)

Cosmoprincesslight–Thanks for the review...and did I update soon enough? ;)

Tongarisangel–Hey, that's fine that it took a while to review–I understand how hectic your life is! And man, how severe was your new fic to be taken off the net:S Thanks muchly, darling!

Sakura–Thanks for the review! ...You're not, by chance, my friend Saky, are you?

Anyone–You guessed right! But then, it was a fairly obvious answer, no? ;) Thanks!

To all those that read and didn't review–thanks for reading my fic! I hope you'll give me some feedback on what you thought!


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